National industrial relations

The collective agreement for Italy's mass market retail sector has finally been renewed, five years after its predecessor expired. The main new feature is an overhaul of the job and salary grid to...

10 September 2024

Germany: IG Metall floats idea of four-day week at Volkswagen

Since Volkswagen's shock announcement last Thursday of likely redundancies and plant closures in Germany for its flagship VW brand, trade unions and politicians have been bracing themselves for...

9 September 2024

Netherlands: unions plan week of strikes in push to maintain the early retirement scheme

On 7 September, the Dutch trade unions FNV, CNV and VCP launched a week of strike action to reach an agreement with the government and employers on maintaining the Early Retirement Scheme (RVU)...

9 September 2024

Fashion retailer New Look commits to human rights due diligence measures

New Look and the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) announced on August 27 that they have signed a memorandum of understanding to introduce due diligence measures for...

6 September 2024

Italy: gender equality at heart of new footwear sector collective agreement

The social partners in Italy's footwear sector, which employs around 75,000 people, reached an agreement in July to renew their collective agreement. In addition to an average pay rise of €191...

6 September 2024

Germany: battle for jobs in the offing at Volkswagen

The iconic German carmaker has sparked fury among employees and staff representatives by announcing the possible closure of factories in Germany, the termination of the job guarantee agreement and...

5 September 2024

France: La Poste commits to harnessing skills acquired by caregiving employees

On 12 July 2024, French postal service group La Poste signed a new agreement with the CGT, CFDT, FO, CFE-CGC, CFTC and UNSA trade unions to support its 5,200 postal workers who provide care. The...

5 September 2024

Italy: new food industry collective agreement focuses on purchasing power

The collective agreement for Italy's food industry, which was renewed this spring, covers numerous categories and sectors (including, for example, coffee and food supplements), representing some...

4 September 2024

H&M and industriALL Global Union bolster agreement on subcontracting practices

Nine years after a first agreement aimed at developing representation and collective relations among suppliers, H&M, the Swedish trade union IF Metall and the global federation industriALL...

29 August 2024

Italy: utility group Hera pens agreement to combine growth and well-being

The 'good work pact' (Il patto del buon lavoro), signed in July by the multi-utility group Hera (electricity, gas and water distribution and waste management), aims to guarantee a "just...

28 August 2024

Geopost commits to regulate subcontracting in a global agreement

On July 22, the La Poste group subsidiary signed an amendment to the social agreement that has bound it since 2017 with the global services union federation UNI Global Union. It brings a strong...

27 August 2024

United Kingdom: union fails in bid for recognition at Amazon

The GMB union failed to secure a sufficient number of votes to officially represent staff at Amazon’s Coventry warehouses, which would have forced the American online retail giant to...

19 July 2024

Luxembourg: €500 bonus for banking sector employees in 2025

After six months of difficult negotiations, the Luxembourg Bankers’ Association (ABBL) and the Aleba, LCGB and OGBL trade unions announced on 11 July that they had reached an agreement on...

15 July 2024

France: Engie Energie Services trials four-day week

On 24 June, the management of the French energy group's services subsidiary and the CFE-CGC, CGT and FO trade unions signed an agreement governing a four-day working week trial for operational...

15 July 2024

Italy: new collective agreement for tourism industry includes progress on gender equality and quality of life at work

On 5 July, the social partners in Italy's tourism industry renewed the national collective agreement. The agreement, which covers some 290,000 hotel workers (rising to more than 400,000 during the...

12 July 2024

Spain: stumbling blocks in negotiations over 37.5-hour week

The government is offering greater flexibility in the distribution of working hours in a bid to convince employers to accept the transition to a 37.5-hour week, instead of the current 40 hours...

10 July 2024

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France: La Poste to launch negotiations for an AI agreement

Following the lead of firms such as Axa, Syensqo globally, and more recently CDC Habitat, La Poste group management will open negotiations on an AI regulation agreement during the first half of...

5 March 2026

France: Crédit Agricole to tighten remote work rules

Crédit Agricole is to adopt stricter rules on remote work from mid-March onwards. The rules will be tightened for employees, but the maximum number of days working remotely will remain unchanged.

29 January 2026

France: Orange submits gender equality agreement – including AI provisions – for union approval

The three representative trade unions at Orange France have until 10 December to validate an agreement on gender equality, work–life balance and anti-discrimination measures. While the text...

8 December 2025

mind RH analysis – Initial findings from CSRD social indicators

In 2025, for the first time, the universal registration documents of major European companies contain the sustainability reporting required by the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive...

31 October 2025

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Germany: a national action plan to strengthen collective bargaining

The news. On 22 July, the German federal government unveiled a national action plan to promote collective bargaining in response to the requirements of the EU minimum wage directive. The directive...

23 July 2026